Canine Companions: The Tales of Zootopian Truckers
by ChallengerC
Summary: Canine Companions follows two young canine truck drivers, Challenger, a Grey Coyote/Grey Wolf mix, and Sitka, a pure Artic Fox, as they go on many adventures in the extensive world surrounding their home city of Zootopia. These 'adventures' range from simple deliveries gone wrong to proper action stories, written in a sort of slice-of-life format.


The transportation depot bustled with various trucks moving to and fro, and in one corner sat a dark blue Peterbilt 359. The coyote in charge of said Peterbilt was in the process of filling out a time log when he heard the sound of tires screeching. He looked up just in time to see a white day-cab Mack Pinnacle come flying into the lot, leaning to the left at a forty-five degree angle with the ground.

The fast moving Mack straightened up and fell back onto it's tires with a thump, then skidded to a stop, coming to rest inches from the Peterbilt's nose. The coyote could see that the mammal driving was a fox, and he immediately felt an inner rage building. Climbing out of his truck, the coyote walked over to the Mack and banged on the driver's door. A tentative "yes?" came through the partially open window.

"What the hell was that!? You coulda killed someone!" the coyote yelled angrily.

The fox, completely forgetting his nerves, yelled back "Hey, back off _coyote_ , I know what I'm doing.

"I'm a wolf, thank you," lied the coyote, "and it sure as hell didn't look like it!"

"Whatever, why don't you just mind your own business, _runt_!" With that, the fox put his truck in gear, and skillfully reversed the trailer to the loading dock.

"Greenhorn" the coyote muttered under his breath as he returned to his truck and paperwork.

 **One Year Later**

"Damn red light" the coyote muttered, carefully downshifting his Volvo. While he was sitting at the light, he noticed a familiar dark blue Peterbilt rolling to a stop on the other side of the intersection. "Hey Stag," he said into the CB, "What're you doing this far south?"

"Got a long haul from Maine; I thought _you_ refused to go south of Atlanta, what're you doing in Miami?"

"Money has funny ways of convincing mammals to do things they don't like doing."

"Whatever you say Chal, you look good back to I-95 if you're headed that way."

"10-4, preciate it" Challenger responded, effectively ending the conversation. By this point, the light was just turning green, and the two drivers headed their separate ways.

Finally pulling back into the main depot he hauled from in the industrial district of Zootopia, Pennsylvania, Chal noticed an unfamiliar truck. After parking the empty trailer he had been pulling, Chal parked his Volvo next to the newcomer's truck, a Peterbilt 386 that looked like it had gone through quite a bit of personalization. After a quick look at the truck, Challenger headed into the office.

"Mister Coyolfe, I've been waiting for you," the dispatcher said as soon as Chal padded into the office.

"You have?"

"Yep, had an order come in, asking for you specifically. Here you go."

Chal started to look over the manifest, but stopped when he noticed, "This is a government contract!"

"Yep, congrats; your partner is in the maintenance garage."

"Partner?"

"Yep."

Walking through the maintenance garage doors, Chal was stopped dead in his tracks. Standing before him talking to the mechanic was the same arctic fox that had nearly run into him a year ago. "YOU!" He exclaimed, forgetting that last time they met, he'd been under the guise of Kanis Kent.

"Oh hey, do I know you from somewhere?"

"You…, no, probably not. Looks like we're working together for a while."

"Is that so? Can I see the manifest then?"

Challenger handed the folder over, trying not to let his anger from their last meeting show.

"Name's Sitka by the way," the fox said. "Now let's see here…, wait a minute, this is…"

"... A government contract, yea. Shall we get going?" Chal asked through slightly bared teeth.

"Uh, yea."

Within a few minutes, both trucks were hooked up to their respective trailers, but Challenger was feeling a little suspicious. "Doesn't it seem a bit odd that some government agency asked specifically for two of the youngest drivers on the lot?" Chal asked the dispatcher.

"Normally yes, but maybe they were actually looking for _Kanis_ , and he wasn't a younger driver.

"I've… never heard that name before…"

"Mister Coyolfe, you are very easy to see through sometimes; your secret's safe."

"You'd better believe it sir, you have no way of proving my alternate persona."

"Hey coyote, we've got places to be" Sitka yelled from in front of his truck.

"I'm coming, and my name's Challenger" Chal yelled back, before turning back to the dispatcher, "I guess we'll be on our way."

They had barely gotten out of Zootopia's city limits when there was a problem. "Hey Challenger-"

"Call me Cal, everyone does" Chal interrupted.

"Right, Chal, I think I've got a flat."

"Dammit, where?"

"Trailer, front axle, driverside, likely the inside tire."

"Damn, you can tell all that from the way the trailer's riding?"

"Yea, I've always been good with trucks that way."

"Alright, there's a truckstop in a few miles, we'll check it there."

"10-4"

At the truckstop, the two canines found that the tire in question was in extremely bad condition, and likely had blown as soon as they got on the highway. A quick check around the rest of the trailer showed that six of the seven remaining tires were in a similar condition. "Didn't you check these before we left?" Challenger asked Sitka in exasperation.

"I must've forgotten to…"

"Come on, that's a rookie mistake, how long have you been driving?"

"Professionally? Just over a year now. I guess I'm just so used to driving for van lines where everything is checked before you even get the trailer, I didn't even think about checking this one. As I said before, I'm good with trucks in a mechanical sense, but not necessarily a driving sense."

"Well I'm kinda the other way around, hopefully I won't need to show it; Let's switch trailers, and I'll do everything I can to stop these from going until we can change them."

"And what exactly can you do to stop them from blowing?"

"Basically, drive slowly and carefully. We'll stay off the interstate, and you'll stay behind me and let me know if it looks like another one's gonna go."

"Ok." They quickly swapped trailers, and Challenger was very glad the blown tire was an inside one, as it would be less noticable to any cop to happen by.

The rest of the trip went by fairly well, other than Challenger and Sitka having an argument over whether classic rock is better than country music. As they were nearing their destination of Roanoke, Virginia however, Sitka gave a warning over the CB. "Hey Chal, that outside tire looks like it wants to blow." When they had stopped to change the tires, they were only able to get six, and the extra strain on the front left outside tire was finally getting to it.

"Darn, I thought we were gonna make it" Chal responded, eyeing the tire in his mirror. He didn't see anything that told him the tire would blow, but he decided to trust Sid's judgement and pulled over.

"See how the tire's bulging around the rim?"

"Yea kinda…, I see it near the road, but tires always do that when they have weight on them."

"Well look at this tire, then look at the one on the back axle, and you can see that this tire is sticking out a little bit. Use the trailer for reference."

Challenger looked as hard as he could, but still didn't see a difference. "I'm just gonna trust what you're saying, Will it help if we lower the air pressure?"

"Probably, and changing the tires around so that this one isn't holding as much weight wouldn't be a bad idea either."

"I don't have a jack…"

"And I don't have a lug wrench; together, we make a pit crew."

"Alright, let's get to it then."

Changing the tires around went surprisingly quickly, and within ten minutes, they were back on the road. Challenger almost immediately noticed another problem, "Hey Sitka, we might have another issue."

"What's that?"

"If I remember correctly, the road this address is on has low bridges on both ends…"

"So what do you suggest we do?"

"Find somewhere to pull over, my truck can fit under the bridges because of my cab height smokestacks, so we can leave your truck and the trailers somewhere fairly safe, and try to find a non-height-restricted way through in my truck."

"Usually, I'd absolutely refuse to get in a _Volvo_ , But that sounds like a good plan."

"Ok then…, there's a Walmart around here somewhere we can park at."

One trailer drop later, the two canines were in Challenger's truck and heading toward the delivery point. When they reached the first low bridge, Chal slowed way down; "Stick your head out the window and watch the smokestacks please, I'm pretty sure I'll fit, but I'd rather not find out I'm wrong the hard way."

"Alright, Just try not to get too close to the wall, huh?"

The truck did in fact fit under the bridge, but only just. "You might have some scrape marks on the tips, but I don't think it dented" Sitka said, pulling his head back through the window.

"Thanks again… For the first time, I'm sort of enjoying working with someone."

"Yea, you're not too bad…"

"The GPS says it should be just up here on the left" Sitka commented.

"Just up here? As in that empty lot right there...?"

"Yea, what's going on here?"

"Come on," Chal said as he pulled over, "Let's take a look around. Maybe there's a mobile office we're missing or something…" The two canines climbed out of the truck and started exploring the field. It was so empty, there wasn't even any grass, just a dirt lot, roughly an acre in size.

"Well this is a bust, let me call the office… Sitka?" Challenger looked around, but the fox was nowhere to be seen. "Sitka? This isn't funny! Where are you!?" Chal turned back in the direction of his truck, just in time to see a large ram charging toward him. "Wait, what is this, I didn't-"

Challenger woke up with a major headache, bordering migraine. The pain in his head intensified as soon as he opened his eyes, and he quickly shut them again. In the slight flash of vision Chal had glimpsed a very beaten looking Sitka; "Hey Sid, you awake?"

"You could say that… What's around my neck?"

"I'd assume your shirt."

"They took our clothes smartass! Have you gone blind or something?"

"I can't open my eyes, the light is giving me a headache…"

"Not the light, the whistling."

At that, Challenger focused all his energy on picking up any sound he could. It was then that he noticed the high pitched whistling emanating from the walls around him. "What is that?"

"It's a dog whistle; they were used in WWII, but have since been outlawed."

"It's so…, disorienting."

"That's the point, come see if you can figure out what's on my neck."

Challenger crawled over to Sitka and felt around his neck, trying his best to keep his eyes closed. "It feels like…, a metal collar!"

"Open your eyes please, and tell me if there's a flashing light anywhere on the collar."

Challenger finally opened his eyes, and noticed that his glasses were missing. "They took my glasses, I'm gonna have to get pretty close to distinguish anything."

"We're in this together, and until we get out, personal space doesn't exist. Do what you have to."

"Ok… Yes, there is a light on the collar, it's flashing red every few seconds."

"I was afraid of that; it's a shock collar, you probably have one too. If we don't act exactly the way they want us to, we get shocked."

"How do you know so much about this?"

"I've always been into the war stuff; I may sound calm, but I'm freaking out inside."

"Don't worry, partner, we'll get out of this."

"So, what's the plan, partner?" Sitka asked, putting extra emphasis on the 'partner.'

"Well, let's look around, see if there's anything in this cell we can use to insulate the collars."

"Do you really think they'd be stupid enough to leave something like that in here?"

"Not really, but doing _something_ is always better than just sitting around thinking about what might happen next."

"Fair enough." A quick search revealed that other than the blanket Sid had originally been laying on, the cell was completely empty. "No luck" Sid said dejectedly.

"Well it was worth a try… Sid?"

"Yea?"

"Do you remember ever nearly rolling a truck on your way into a depot in New York?"

"Yea, my first run, white day-cab Mack."

"Do you remember getting yelled at by a wolf?"

"Yea, a runt, why?"

"That was me. I was living under a fake identity until I turned eighteen this year…, I just want to say that I'm sorry for yelling."

"I mean thanks but, I really did mess up, and that truck you were driving did look pretty expensive."

"Ah, so you're awake huh" a new voice said.

Both canines turned to the cell door, where a large tan ram was standing. "Where are we?" they asked in unison.

"Yea you would like to know that, wouldn't you?"

"Yea," Challenger responded, "we'd also like to know why."

"All will be found out later. Now, which of you wants to go first?"

"Go first?" Sitka said slowly, "go first for what?"

"Ah forget it, I'll just let the boss decide." With that, the ram turned and left.

A couple minutes later, the two friends heard the clopping of hooves hitting the concrete floor. They turned to the door and both immediately covered themselves with their tails, Sitka's ears reddening slightly as they were now in the company of a female sheep. "Who are-" Sitka started to ask nervously before Challenger interrupted him,

"I recognize you, you're Dawn Bellwether right? You were all over the news a couple years ago."

"That's right! My plans to rule Zootopia were foiled last time, but it WON'T HAPPEN AGAIN!"

"Rule Zootopia, why would you want to rule over a measly city? Why not the entire US?" Sitka challenged, once again forgetting his nerves.

"Well I would never get away with something like that, democracy on such a large scale simply doesn't work that way."

"Anyway," Challenger interrupted again, "Why are we here?"

"Yea," Sid added, "and why did you take our clothes?"

"Well wild animals don't wear clothes, now do they?"

"But-" Chal started.

"We're not-" Sid continued.

"Well you are now" Bellwether said viciously before walking away.

"Challenger?" Sitka asked after the herbivores had left.

"What?"

"How did Bellwether try to take over Zootopia last time?"

"She had a serum developed to make preds go savage."

"Hmm, and the shock collars _could_ be used as behavior modifiers…"

"And they wouldn't be traceable, good thinking. In that case, what one of us will be going first for is probably some sort of behavior test."

"Right, and she'll be looking for vicious-"

"So we'll give her anything but."

"WHAT! Do you want us to get shocked!? If we act how she wants us to, she'll probably release us to do her 'dirty work,' then we can escape."

"True, but I'd like to keep hold of the collars when we get out of here; if we don't have proof then there won't be any way to stop her. I've got a pretty high pain tolerance, I'll go first and see what we're dealing with."

"Fine," Sitka finally agreed, "but you'd better come up with a plan fast!"

"What, you afraid to stand in front of a female naked again" Chal asked jokingly.

"Oh shut up with your fucking words; I just, uh…"

"Sure you are."

"Oh don't tell me you weren't embarrassed too" Sitka challenged.

"Eh, I don't get embarrassed easily; now if _she_ was standing there naked, that would be a different story."

"I get the feeling something happened to you when you were younger…"

About thirty minutes, and a ten degree temperature drop later, Bellwether's minion came back. "Alright, which one of you _wild animals_ is going first?"

"Me" Challenger said, perhaps a little too loudly.

"Alright then, let's go," the ram said, before looking in Sitka's direction, "if you even try to escape, that pretty collar you're wearing will fry a hole in your neck!" With that, the ram turned and pushed Chal away from the cell door. As they walked further from the cell, Chal noticed the high pitched whistling and subsequent headache diminishing, telling him that the source was likely embedded in the walls of the cell.

The ram led Challenger through another door, and he immediately noticed a viewing window mounted high in the wall, with Bellwether watching from the other side. Without thinking, he once again covered himself with his tail, realizing at the same time that he might still be just a little self-conscious. Bellwether must have noticed Chal watching her, as she quickly grabbed a microphone from somewhere and started monologuing. "Hello again coyote, is there something wrong with your tail? Oh nevermind, welcome to the test room!"

Challenger bared his teeth slightly at the tail comment, she knew full well what he was doing. He very quickly relaxed himself however, as he noticed a small, very scared looking rabbit huddling in one corner of the room. Bellwether said something else, and the ram left, closing the door behind him. Chal looked up at the window, but looked back at the rabbit as she started speaking; "peas don't eat me pwedater."

"Eat you? Why would I-"

"Because you're hungry of course" Bellwether said over the loudspeaker.

"WHAT! The only meat I eat is fish, I would never eat a rabbit!"

"Yes you will, with enough _pain_ " Bellwether said, picking up a remote.

"What is- AAAGH!" The collar shocked him, not enough to hurt, but he wasn't expecting it.

"Does that answer your question?" Bellwether taunted.

"One of them…"

"Good, now eat your food!" Bellwether motioned to the rabbit. Challenger was so appalled by the thought of eating another mammal that he didn't even realize how hungry he actually was. "If you don't cooperate, I will shock you again" Bellwether warned.

"Go ahead, I'm not eating a rabbit, especially not a kid!"

"Fine, we'll try again tomorrow." After he was sure Bellwether wasn't listening anymore, Chal turned back to the young rabbit, making sure his tail was still in front of him. "Don't worry kid, you're not getting eaten on my watch." Just then, the door opened, and the ram led Chal back to the cell where Sitka was waiting.

"Your turn snowy" the ram said when they reached the cell. Chal wanted to tell him exactly what the test was, but the switch was done in about thirty seconds, then Sitka and the ram were gone.

Sitka followed the ram nervously, not knowing what to expect as Challenger had barely been able to open his mouth before their roles had been reversed, and he was being led away. He was led into a room with an observer's area attached to one side. He immediately noticed a small rabbit trying to hide herself in the corner.

"Hello fox." Sid jumped as Bellwether's voice came on over the loudspeaker.

"Uh, hi? Where am I?"

"The test room of course; how do you like your new accessory?"

"You mean this shock collar, is that some kind of a joke?"

"Think of it however you like; now, I bet you're hungry…"

"Kinda, yea...," Sitka responded, before lowering his ears in shock, "wait, you're not implying-"

"Of course I am, eat the rabbit!" The young rabbit squealed in fear.

"No. Absolutely not! There's no way I'd ever- EEEYYOWW!" Sitka howled in pain as Bellwether activated his collar. He then dropped to all fours, with one paw on his neck, and looked at the viewing room, "Why? Why are you doing this to us? And why _us_?"

"I'm doing this for vengeance, to get back at those who ruined my plans in the first place! You and your friend were just easy to get, and you won't be missed" Bellwether said menacingly, before turning away from the mic and talking to someone out of Sitka's line of sight. He turned to the rabbit, careful to return the protective covering of his tail.

"It's ok little girl, I'm not going to eat you, and neither is my partner" he said in a voice that he hoped was reassuring. At that point the door opened, and the ram told him to come. "You know, I'm getting tired of being treated like a little kid."

"Yea, well you might want to get used to it, now let's go." Sitka reluctantly followed him.

When they got back to the cell, Sitka noticed that 'do not say anything' was claw-scratched into the wall. He gave a miniscule nod when Chal looked at him, then waited for the ram to leave.

As soon as the ram was gone, Challenger and Sitka looked at each other and quietly said "their listening" in unison.

"Wait," Chal said, "how do you know?"

"Bellwether asked me something about the collar, you?"

"What the ram said to you before I left, that was just to scare you, and Bellwether asked me if my tail was bothering me."

"So?"

"She knew exactly why I was holding my tail the way I was, she just said that to spite me!"

"Did it work?"

"Maybe a little…, why are we still talking about this?"

"I will get your ears to redden" Sid responded with a smile.

"Alright come on, we can mess around once we escape" Chal responded, lowering his voice.

"We've gotta rescue the rabbit too."

"Getting ourselves out has to be the priority, it won't help her much if we get caught again."

"Right."

Two days went by, with Challenger and Sitka still starving themselves to avoid attacking the young rabbit. By the third day, however, Challenger was starting to feel the shocks, and the fur around Sitka's neck was starting to darken. "Chal, I don't know how long I can take this, I'm starting to feel really hungry..."

"I know, I am too, and the shocks are starting to hurt."

"Haven't they always?"

"No, I told you I have a high pain tolerance. Anyway, I've been working on an escape plan."

"What have you come up with?" Sitka asked hopefully.

"If we can disable the collars, then take down the ram, we can make a run for it."

"Well Yea, but we _can't_ disable the collars, and with them on, the ram can disable _us_."

"Here, lay down, and let me get a good look at your collar" Challenger said. Sitka did as he was told, and Chal started poking at the collar with his claw. "What are the odds that this collar is wired on a series circuit?"

"Not very, why?"

"Because if it is, _this_ will disable it" Challenger said, jabbing the light with his claw. The light shattered easily, but Chal wasn't sure that it had done the trick.

"Ow," Sitka cried, before quickly lowering his voice again, "the collar shocked me when you did that…, what did you do?"

"I broke the light. If it is on a series circuit, it won't work anymore."

"That's a pretty big 'if'."

"Here," Chal said as he laid down, "break mine, then I'll be the first to find out."

"Ok."

The next day, Challenger once again refused to attack the rabbit; but this time, there was no shock.

"Come on coyote, you've got to eat some time, and I would hate for that beautiful gray fur of yours to get burned off" Bellwether said over the loudspeaker, sounding a little desperate.

"In order for my fur to be burned, there needs to be a shock" Chal responded with a smirk.

"What? But…, "Bellwether hit the button a few times, then yelled at someone out of Chal's line of sight. A few seconds later, the door slammed open and the ram came racing in. Chal gathered all of his strength and jumped at the ram, knocking him backwards slightly, before clawing at his eyes. The ram screamed in pain and knocked Challenger off him. While he was distracted, Chal ran over to the rabbit. "Hey kid, we're breaking out, come on."

"I-I-I Can't, I sacerd."

"Scared? I'll carry you."

"Ok…" Challenger swung the rabbit up over his head and sat her piggyback on his shoulders.

"Hold tight onto my ears, I don't want to drop you."

"Ok." Chal could feel the little rabbit shaking with fear.

Sitka heard paws hitting the ground in a quick rhythm, and looked up to see Challenger running toward the cell with the little rabbit on his shoulders. "What's going on," he asked, "how did you-"

"It's time, the collars are useless" Chal responded as he unlocked the cell door.

"We don't even know how to get out of here…," Sitka worried aloud.

"We'll wing it" was all Challenger said.

"Hold it right there!" Challenger turned around to see Bellwether aiming a pistol at his head.

"You wouldn't, if you kill us you'll have to start back at square one" Chal pointed out.

"Who said anything about killing both of you? I'm sure your friend would be quite cooperative after watching you die" Bellwether responded maliciously.

"You wish" came from to the right of Bellwether. She started to turn, but immediately got bowled over by Sitka, who had managed to sneak out of the cell while she was focused on Challenger. After grabbing Bellwether's gun, Sid motioned to Chal to follow him and started to run in the direction of the test room.

Just past the test room, they found a door leading outside, and Challenger noticed an orange hood sticking out from behind the building. "Hey sid, my truck" he said, starting to run toward the Volvo, Sitka following close behind.

Chal reached the driver door and was thankful to find that it wasn't locked. Climbing in, he put the rabbit down on the sleeper bed, then fished some clothes and his spare pair of glasses out of the closet.

"You have anything that might fit me?" Sitka asked from the passenger seat.

"Yea, we're roughly the same size…, here."

"Thanks, what about the rabbit?" Chal turned back to her,

"Now listen, we're going to be driving very fast, ok? I need you to keep your head low and hold on tight."

"Ok" the rabbit seemed nearly petrified with fear. Challenger climbed back into the driver seat and finally realized Bellwether had his keys.

"Uh Sid?"

"Yea?"

"I don't have my keys…"

"Hotwire it."

"That won't work, the starter's busted, I can hardly get it started _with_ the key!"

"There's another way to start a manual I think, you might be able to jumpstart it using the transmission," Sitka thought for a second, "But you need to get power to the starter."

"That I can do, then what?"

"If we can get the truck rolling, all you have to do is get up a couple mph, then dump the clutch, the driveshaft might jump the engine."

"Well it's worth a shot" Challenger said as he crawled under the steering wheel and spliced a wire with his claw. "Tell me if this does something…"

"... Yep, dashboard display is on."

"Alright, so now we need the truck to roll?" Chal asked again.

"Yea" Sitka responded.

"Alright, the rabbit can help us, get back behind the chassis and be ready to push."

"Ok." After Sitka got out, Chal turned to the young rabbit.

"Alright kid, we need your help, come up here." The rabbit carefully jumped off the bed and wobbled her way into the cab. "Ok sweetheart, I need you to hold this pedal in as far as you can, ok?" Chal said, pointing with his back left paw at the clutch pedal. The rabbit put her front paws on the pedal and pushed until it hit its stopper. "Good, now as soon as you feel the truck start moving, let go of the pedal then push it back in ok?"

"Ok" the rabbit seemed a little more confident now. Chal put the truck in first gear and released the parking brake before jumping out to help Sid. Having been parked on a hill, the truck started rolling pretty easily, with Chal and Sid just helping it along. It rolled for a couple seconds before the engine fired, making Sitka jump in the process.

"Wow, " Sid said, "I can't believe that worked."

"Come on, let's get out of here" Chal responded, pretending he didn't notice Sid's start. Just as he was climbing into the truck, he heard the door to the building bang open, and he looked over his shoulder to see Bellwether and her ram running towards them. He quickly pulled himself the rest of the way into the driver's seat. "Ok kid, let go of that pedal." She did so, and Chal put his paw down hard on the accelerator; the engine started to rev up before the clutch plates mashed together and the truck shot forward.

Challenger thought they were safe when the truck started accelerating, until he heard a metallic clang. Looking in the mirror, Chal saw that the driverside fuel tank had a ram-head shaped dent in it, and was scraping the ground. Chal looked at his fuel gauge, it was going down fast. "Sid, get over here" he said, trying not to let his panic show.

"What?"

"Take the wheel, I need to plug that damaged fuel line before it starts sucking air."

"Right." Sitka grabbed the steering wheel and Challenger put the cruise control on before throwing himself out onto the side-step.

"Welp," Chal thought aloud, "holding on to the side of a speeding truck is definitely something I never thought I'd do." As Chal's Volvo had a partial sideskirt, he was fairly easily able to get back to the fuel tank. Squeezing himself between the cab of the truck and the top of the tank, Chal grabbed the damaged line and quickly tied a knot in it, effectively cutting off all fluid flow. Satisfied with his handiwork, Chal started to wriggle himself out from under the cab, but stopped when he felt the fuel tank shudder beneath him.

Only being held on by one bracket, the fuel tank was starting to break off of the side of the truck completely. The tank jolted, then the side that had previously been connected to the truck hit the ground. Challenger quickly pushed himself up onto all fours, and jumped onto the exposed chassis behind the sleeper. Just as he was about to climb onto the passenger side fuel tank to get back to the cab, Chal heard a bullet bury itself in the sleeper right next to his head. He looked over his shoulder and saw a very aged black Lincoln Continental following just behind the truck. Chal muttered a curse under his breath and swung himself onto the fuel tank, scrabbling for grip.

Challenger made it into the cab just in time for a bullet to shatter the passenger side mirror where his head had been a few seconds ago. "Challenger," Sitka gasped, "Thank goodness, I thought you'd-"

"Well I didn't, let me take the wheel back."

"Right."

They quickly switched places; but as soon as Challenger had the wheel back, the controls shuddered. "They got a tire" Sitka warned.

"Thanks Sid" Chal responded, quickly catching the slight control lapse. They only managed to shoot out one of the eight rear tires, so the truck didn't handle much different. Challenger started swerving just a bit to make the shooter's aiming that small amount more difficult.

Eventually, the chasers got tired of attempting to shoot the swerving truck, and tried to pull alongside. Challenger immediately knocked them into a ditch. "Uh, Chal?" Sitka said nervously.

"Yea?" Challenger asked just before noticing his fuel gauge was on empty. "Uh-oh, maybe we can coast it..."

"Well that's wishful thinking if I've ever heard it" Sitka said just as the engine shut down.

"Shit" both canines said in unison. "I've lost power steering" Chal continued, struggling to keep the truck on the road.

"I have an idea, but it may lose you your truck…"

"Shoot."

"Try to aim the truck vaguely toward the woods, then we'll jump out and make a run for the Walmart. Maybe they'll see your truck and think we've wrecked…"

"Giving us enough time to escape in yours" Chal finished his friend's thought.

"Exactly" Sid agreed.

"Alright, grab the rabbit and be ready to jump."

"Right." Challenger watched Sid prepare, then set the cruise and locked the steering by tying the cab-to-sleeper curtain around it.

"Ready?" Chal asked after he had finished the jury rig.

"Let's do it" Sitka responded, tightening his grip on the door handle.

"3..2..1..GO!" Challenger yelled, and they both jumped from the truck. Chal hit the ground running, almost losing his _second_ pair of glasses in the process, but had to stop to help Sid up, as he hadn't accounted for the extra weight of the rabbit. "Come on, we're still about half a mile from the Walmart."

"Right."

By the time they got to Sitka's truck, both canines were slightly out of breath. "Wait," Chal panted, "Where're your keys?"

"Oh, the truck's equipped with pawprint scanners."

"Really?"

"Yea, check it out," Sitka put his paw on the door next to the handle, and the door unlocked with a quiet click.

"That is legitimately cool" Challenger commented, slightly jealous.

"Yea, I'm gonna let you drive, you know the area better than I do" Sid said as he climbed up onto the chassis to disconnect the trailer's power and air cables.

"Alright," Chal responded, rolling down the landing gear, "How do I start it?"

"It's 'her' thank you, and there's another pawprint scanner, I'll start 'er in a sec."

"Ok."

Disconnecting the trailer took less than a minute with both canines helping, and pretty soon all three mammals were sitting in Sitka's truck. Sid put his paw on the dashboard infotainment center, and after a few seconds the truck roared to life. Sitka looked square at Challenger, "Please don't wreck my truck."

"You know I won't if I can help it; see if you can get your collar off" Chal suggested.

"10-4." Sid climbed into the sleeper where he had some appliances, and noticed the young rabbit once again looked quite scared. "Hey little girl, what's the matter?" The rabbit opened her mouth to speak, but no sound came out. "You're ok now, Chal and I are gonna get you home. Do you have a family?"

"Uh-huh."

"Do you know where they are?"

"Uh-uh" the rabbit was still having trouble saying any actual words.

"What's your name sweetheart?" Challenger called from the driver's seat.

"Ewisabet Hopps…"

"Ew- you mean Elizabeth?" Sid put together.

"Uh-huh."

"Hopps, Hopps," Chal was muttering, "I recognize that name…"

"What was that partner?"

"She said her last name is Hopps right? I feel like I've heard that name before…"

"It's probably a pretty-"

"Wilde's partner!" Challenger suddenly exclaimed.

"What?" Sitka said, confused.

"ZPD Officer Nick Wilde. I've bought him lunch a couple times to get out of speeding tickets. His partner's last name is Hopps."

"You think there's a connection?"

"Could be… I guess we're headed back to Zootopia."

"What about the local PD," Sid suggested, "Shouldn't we let them know about Bellwether?"

"You really think two sly dogs like us are gonna just waltz into a police station with a naked rabbit and not immediately get thrown behind bars?"

"Fair point, but what makes you think the ZPD will be any different?"

"If said rabbit is related to one of their officers, it'll be different."

"Fair enough" Sitka finally conceded.

The trip back up to Zootopia was even less eventful than the trip down, other than Elizabeth siding with Sitka in the music debate. Pretty soon, they were rolling up in front of ZPD headquarters. "I still can't believe you got us through those tight roads" Sitka was saying as Chal shut the truck down.

"What? The roads around here aren't that tight…"

"Well maybe they just looked tight from back here." Sitka had spent most of the trip in the sleeper comforting Elizabeth.

"Alright," Chal said, "I'll go in and see if I can find Nick and his partner, You can stay out here and watch over her since you can start the truck. If you see our friends, get out. Don't worry about me."

"Right. Oh, Chal, your collar!"

"Oh, did you ever figure out how to get them off?"

"I'm sure I _can_ …" A couple minutes of jabbing at Challenger's neck with a screwdriver later, the collar was off.

"Wow, I've gotten so used to wearing that damn collar that I forgot how nice it is to _not_ be wearing it" Chal thought aloud.

"Hmm, speaking of forgetting, we haven't eaten in days, mind if I go get some food while you're scouring the station?"

"It's your truck, go right ahead, just get me some fish huh?"

"Well what do you want?"

"I don't know…, cod? Ugh, stop distracting me" Challenger finished in exasperation. Sitka just laughed.

Challenger could just about hear Sitka pulling away as he walked into the police station. He stopped and took a moment to look around, never having actually been in the station before. After his quick visual tour, Chal focused on how he was gonna get Nick's location. He started walking toward the main counter, where a fairly chubby cheetah was munching on a donut. "A-hum, excuse me" Chal said as he approached the counter.

"Ah, yes?" The cheetah asked, looking genuinely curious.

"I'm looking for Officer Nick Wilde."

"And what do you need Officer Wilde for?"

"I have some information pertaining to a case."

"What case would that be sir?"

"Uh, well it's an out-of-town case, but I have reason to believe Officer Wilde and his partner will have a personal interest in it."

"Okay, and what is your name?"

"Challenger Coyolfe."

"Can I see some I.D.?"

"Sure," Challenger reached into his pocket before remembering that Bellwether had taken his wallet. "Oh shoot, a friend dropped me off, I must've left my wallet at home…"

"Well in that case sir-"

"Can you just tell Nick to meet the coyote who's bought him lunch before outside the building please? Thank you." Before the dispatcher could respond, Challenger turned and left.

Being both receptionist and dispatcher, Clawhauser had heard his fair share of odd stories, but the coyote who had just walked out didn't seem to fall into any of the stereotypes, so the officer decided to humor him. After all, if anything did happen, it would be right outside of the station, backup would be instantaneous. "Officers Wilde and Hopps, could you come to the front desk? Wilde and Hopps to the front desk." A new intercom system had recently been installed, and Clawhauser loved using it.

"Hey Clawhauser, what's up?" Clawhauser looked up and saw that the newest team in the force had already made their way to his desk.

"Hi Judy; Nick, have you ever had lunch with a gray coyote named Challenger?"

"Yea he- uh, yea."

"Nick?" Judy asked slowly, "Did you accept a bribe?"

"No, nonono of course not, I'd never do that. Why do you ask Clawhauser?"

"Oh, he just came in asking for you, he's waiting out front."

After a few minutes of standing around, Challenger saw a familiar red fox walking out of the police station with a rabbit beside him. At exactly the same time, he heard Sitka's truck pull up to the curb nearby. "Perfect timing" Chal thought out loud, before waving to Nick.

"Hey, Chal was it?" Nick said, shaking paws with Challenger, "wormed out of any speeding tickets lately?"

"So he did bribe you!" Judy exclaimed.

"I wouldn't exactly call it a bribe," Chal countered, "I just paid for the ticket via lunch. Anyway, I'm not just here to socialize; Ms. Hopps, I have something, well, some _one_ to show you..." Challenger led the two officers over to where Sitka's truck was parked and told them to hold on for a second. Chal climbed into the truck, then climbed back out a few seconds later with Elizabeth on his shoulders. Before he could even say anything, Judy jumped forward;

"Oh my goodness Elizabeth! What did you do to her!?"

"I _rescued_ her, you really think I'd be stupid enough to bunnynap someone just to return her to her sister, who's a cop no less?" Chal said pointedly.

"He does have a point" Nick supported.

"Ok then, where did you find her?"

"You remember Dawn Bellwether right?"

"Of course, Nick and I put her in jail two years ago on a number of charges."

"Yea, she escaped…, she has a hideout in Roanoke, Virginia."

"Can you lead us there?" Nick asked.

"Of course, I've gotta go back and see if my truck is still driveable anyway" Chal finished, then held the door to Sitka's truck open.

"Hold on," Judy said, "We can't take Ellie back with us..."

"I've got you covered there too, if I can borrow a car" Challenger responded quickly.

Nick held out a set of keys, "You can use my pickup."

"Hey Sid," Challenger called, "Can you take Elizabeth home?"

Sitka poked his head out of the sleeper, "where is home?"

Chal looked at Judy, "Bunnyburrow, Kentucky."

Sitka thought for a moment, "well I've never been there before, but I'm sure it wouldn't be an issue."

"Great," Chal continued, "He'll take Ellie home, and I'll take you guys to Bellwether's hideout."

"Sounds like a plan" Nick agreed.

"Kentucky, I don't think I've ever been to Kentucky" Sitka said to himself. He then turned to Elizabeth in the passenger seat, "You excited to get back home?"

"Yea, I'm so escided. Can we lisen to music?"

"Sure." Sid tried to tune the radio to his favorite country station, but it was out of range, so he just started playing with the tuner, trying to find some good ole country music.

A peaceful two hundred and eleven mile trip later, Sitka was steering his truck onto Bunnyburrow's main strip. Judy must've called ahead, cause it looked like the entire town had come out. Sitka was very glad about this, as he didn't imagine Ellie's parents would be the most pleased about a fox just walking into their house with their missing daughter. After returning Elizabeth to her parents, Sid decided to call Chal and see how Bellwether was doing.

Challenger pulled the beaten Ford off the road where he thought he and Sitka had bailed from his truck. He looked at Nick as he climbed out of the pickup, "it should be just up there somewhere, rather large white building with a light blue foundation. There might be a black Lincoln Continental parked outside."

"Alright," Nick responded, "We'll go get Bellwether set up for the local department." Challenger nodded and started to walk away, but was stopped by Judy,

"Challenger?"

"Yes?"

"Thank you; if your truck is wrecked, let us know, I'll see what we can do to help."

"Sure thing ma'am" Chal responded, before walking toward the woods where his truck was likely buried. It took about five minutes for Chal to find what was left of his truck. Both side skirts and the one remaining fuel tank had been torn off by the underbrush, and the truck had run straight into a thick tree, completely destroying the hood and bending the chassis upward to the point that if the front axle was still attached, the wheels wouldn't have been touching the ground. The rest of the truck was still in pretty decent shape, it just looked like it was supposed to be a cabover.

Just as Challenger was finishing his inspection of his ruined truck, two police cars flew by heading in the direction of Bellwether's hideout. Chal smiled slightly at the thought of Bellwether locked up in the back of a police car, then his phone started ringing. "Hello?"

*Hey Chal, how're things on your end?*

"Well my truck is totalled, and it looks like Bellwether is going to be getting a deluxe escort to the nearest prison."

*Well at least _some_ of that is good news. Speaking of news, it sure spread around here, I turned onto Bunnyburrow's main drive and was greeted by the entire damn town…*

"Wow, you must be some sort of local hero then."

*Naw, they were only interested in Ellie.* There was a moment of silence, then

"Hey Sid?"

*Yea?*

"You never told me where you live…"

*Technically, Upstate New York, but I've been thinking about maybe moving to Zootopia.*

"You could always move in with me; I could use some help with the rent, especially now that I'm down a truck…"

*You know, I think we can work something out.*

 **Two Months Later**

Challenger rolled to a stop just outside Hopps' Family Farm, Sitka right on his tail. Ever since finding their lost daughter, Stu and Bonnie Hopps had been quite generous when it came to fresh produce, and the two canines made it a point to stop by whenever they happened to be in the area. Mr. an Mrs, Hopps came walking up just as Challenger was climbing out of his truck, "Hey Mr. H, How's the growing?" Before Stu could respond, Sitka came over.

"Hey guys, you still carrying around that fox taser Mr. Hopps?"

"Ha ha, no Sitka, I hang out with too many foxes to need to worry about something like that" Stu replied.

"Would you boys like to join the family for lunch?" Bonnie butted in, "Nick and Judy are down visiting too." Challenger then noticed Nick's truck parked at the near end of the field; he looked back to Bonnie, "We'd be delighted Mrs. Hopps."

"Well by all means, pull your trucks into the yard, everybody's waiting for us" Stu said, opening the gate the rest of the way. Chal and Sid quickly climbed back into their trucks and parked them near the pickup, before joining the rather extensive Hopps family at a heavily modified outdoor dining table.

After lunch, the two friends decided to extend their stay that little bit longer and mingle with various family members. Eventually, Challenger found himself talking to Judy. "Hey Challenger, how's your new truck treating you?" Judy asked politely.

"Oh it's great, I still kinda miss my old truck, but it was falling apart at the seams, so in the long run, I think it was time for it to die" Chal responded solemnly.

"Well I'm glad I could help."

"I still can't believe you convinced the city to reimburse me so much money…"

"Well if Bellwether had succeeded, there wouldn't _be_ a city anymore." At that point Sitka wandered over,

"Hello Judy; Chal, we gotta get going." Challenger glanced at his watch,

"Oh jeez, I didn't realize we'd been here so long. Sorry to up and leave like this Judy, say goodbye to everyone for us." With that, Chal and Sid made their way back to their trucks, saying goodbye to everyone they saw along the way.

 **The End**


End file.
